Fort Worth City Code § 16-186 PERMITS.
§ 16-186 PERMITS.
(a) Generally. It shall be unlawful to sell, offer for sale, vend, operate, maintain or serve any item from a pushcart in the downtown area without a valid slot permit and a food establishment permit issued in accordance with this division. This slot permit shall be required in addition to any other license, permit or certification that may be required by law, including, but not limited to, food handler certification required under Chapter 16 of this code.
(1) Application for a slot permit shall be made in written form to the director.
(2) Slot permits for pushcarts shall only be available under the terms of this division. No encroachment agreement shall be granted for any pushcart unless such pushcart complies with all applicable requirements of this division and Chapter 16 in addition to requirements relating to encroachment.
(3) All pushcarts and required attendant facilities shall be inspected by the Regulatory Health Agency prior to the issuance of a vending permit.
(4) In the interest of public health and safety, all slot permits shall be issued for a specific location. Vendors shall locate in compliance with the noted location so that the Regulatory Health Agency may conduct inspections in compliance with city ordinances and investigate reports of unsanitary conditions or food borne illnesses.
(5) Acceptance of a vending permit is an express acknowledgment and consent to the terms and restrictions set by the Regulatory Health Agency. The use of a permit is a privilege, not a right, subject to reasonable restrictions as set out herein or as may be promulgated by the Regulatory Health Agency.
(6) As an express condition of the acceptance of a slot permit hereunder for an available slot on public property in the downtown area, recipient agrees to police for trash and debris, an area within a 25-foot radius of the pushcart location.
(7) In connection with issuing a slot permit, the director shall, following consultation with the director of the park and recreation department, assign an exact location within the designated slot and shall indicate such location on the slot permit documentation. The director may periodically adjust the exact location within the council-designated slot to allow for construction or other changed circumstances; any such adjustment shall be documented in writing and attached as an addendum to the slot permit documentation.
(b) Insurance and indemnification.
(1) No permit shall be issued to an applicant vending on public property in the downtown area unless verification of insurance is confirmed by a representative from the Risk Management Division of the Human Resources Department. The applicant shall have filed with the city's risk manager a certificate showing that the applicant has secured and agrees to keep in force during the term of the permit a policy providing for bodily injury and property damage in the amounts as follow:
Property damage, per accident | $100,000
Personal injury or death, per person | $100,000
Personal injury or death, per accident | $300,000
Product liability | $300,000
Such insurance policy shall provide that it cannot be cancelled or amended without at least 30 days' notice in writing to the director and the city's risk manager.
(2) As an express condition of the acceptance of such permit, the permit holder thereby agrees to indemnify and save harmless the city, its officers, agents, servants and employees against any loss or liability or damage, including expenses and costs for bodily or personal injury, and for property damage sustained by any person as a result of the operation, use or maintenance of a pushcart, within the City of Fort Worth.
(3) As a further condition, permit holder by acceptance of the permit expressly agrees to indemnify and hold harmless and defend the city, its officers, agents, servants and employees, from and against any and all claims or suits for personal injury, including death, of whatsoever kind or character, whether real or asserted, arising out of or in connection with the consumption of food products sold on any public property herein described.
(c) Pushcart standards on public property in downtown area. Any pushcart which rests in whole or in part upon any public property in the downtown area shall comply with all of the following standards.
(1) Pushcarts must be originally manufactured for use as a non-self-propelled mobile food vending vehicle by a person regularly in the business of manufacturing food preparation vehicles for sale and does not include any vehicle that is converted or retrofitted as a non-self-propelled mobile food vending vehicle.
(2) Pushcart body shall not exceed four feet in height, three feet in width or six feet in length, exclusive of allowed attachments and allowed accessories.
(3) Allowed attachments shall be limited to coolers and counters.
(4) To provide a uniform appearance, allowed attachments must be constructed of or surrounded by the same type of material as the pushcart body.
(5) Allowed attachments must fold out from or be clipped on to the pushcart body. Allowed attachments must be readily removable or retractable so as not to cause pushcart body to exceed the size limitations of subsection (c)(2) above.
(6) Allowed accessories shall be limited to:
a. Canopies;
b. Umbrellas;
c. Up to two stools for use by employees; and
d. A trash can for use by pushcart customers.
(7) Allowed accessories must be kept in close proximity to the pushcart body.
(8) When placed for operation, the pushcart body, allowed attachments and allowed accessories shall be limited to a total combined area not to exceed ten feet in height, six feet in width, or ten feet in length.
(9) [Reserved.]
(10) No pushcart shall be used to display information other than a valid permit, list of items served, the prices thereof and the name of the vendor, all of which must be contained on the body of the pushcart. No pushcart, allowed attachment or allowed accessory shall be used to display or depict artwork or advertising materials of any kind, including, but not limited to, the name, logo or mascot of any product or service.
(11) During the months of March through October, pushcarts must be open to the public for a minimum of two hours per day on at least eight days of each month, provided however, that the director may reduce or waive this requirement due to inclement weather, demonstrated viability issues related to a particular slot or other extenuating circumstance.
(12) Each vendor operating in a slot in the downtown area shall maintain an operations log in a form prescribed by the director to show the days and times on which the vendor operated and/or document the specific reason that a vendor was unable to operate on a particular date. The operations log shall be made available to the code compliance department on request. Failure to maintain or produce an operations log shall give rise to a presumption that the permittee has failed to comply with the minimum operating hours requirement and that the slot has been abandoned.
(d) Number of slot permits. The number of slot permits available for vending on public property in the downtown area shall be determined by the city council after receiving comments and recommendations by the city manager, the director and the director of park and recreation department. Only the city council may create or alter slot designations in the downtown area.
(e) Permit conditions, limitations and restrictions. Permits on public property in the downtown area shall be subject to the following conditions, limitations and restrictions.
(1) Slot permits shall be issued for a period not to exceed 24 months.
(2) On or about February 1 of every odd numbered year, all slots in the downtown area shall be put out for bid by the city. Slots shall be awarded to the highest bidder that is in compliance with all requirements of this subsection (e).
(3) If a slot becomes available outside of the typical bid cycle, it shall be put out for bid by the city for the remainder of the unexpired term and awarded to the highest bidder that is in compliance with all requirements of this subsection (e).
(4) No slot shall be awarded and no slot permit shall be issued unless the permit applicant can demonstrate that: He or she has a pushcart available for dedicated and exclusive use in that slot; and that such pushcart complies with all of the requirements of this division, including but not limited to, size and construction requirements outlined in subsection (c) of this Section.
(5) No more than two permits to operate pushcarts on public property in the downtown area shall be issued to an individual, a single business entity or to two or more affiliated entities. For purposes of this provision AFFILIATED ENTITIES shall include:
a. Individuals related within the third degree by consanguinity or within the second degree by affinity as defined by Tex. Government Code Chapter 573;
b. Business entities with at least 10% common ownership; and
c. An individual and a business entity that the individual controls or in which the individual has at least a 2% ownership interest.
(f) Slot permits nontransferable.
(1) Use of a slot as approved by city council on public property in the downtown area is a privilege, not a property right. Such a designated slot shall not be transferable; it shall be available only to the person designated by slot permit.
(2) It shall be unlawful to attempt to sell, lease or otherwise transfer the use of such a designated slot from the original permittee to any other person natural or unnatural. Such action shall result in automatic revocation of the permits of the parties involved, and those parties shall be banned from operating within the city limits for one year from the date of revocation. Such revocation shall not preclude any other legal action.
(Ord. 22242-05-2016, § 4, passed 5-24-2016; Ord. 27523-03-2025, § 1, passed 3-11-2025, eff. 4-18-2025)